would convene after school on the back lot, and the boys and girls would try to knock out Dr. Condon. There would be a lot of good-natured scuffling and he would emerge flushed and excited and would talk with enthusiasm about the benefits children derived from "a knowledge of the art of self-defence." Photographers had come and taken pic- tures, some of which had appeared in the Manhattan papers. The years had passed in an orderly procession. Even the long summer va- cations had been spent in the Bronx- at City Island, a half-hour's ride in the jitney bus. He had memories of long walks by the shore with his wife and children, of swimming parties and fishing and boat- ing expeditions. In the summers, when his own children were young, he had tutored them himself in the evenings, making it pos- sible for them to skip grades; later the two sons had become law- yers and had settled down in the Bronx in homes of their own, and the daughter had mar- ried an architect and lived over in New Jer- sey. Once or twice a week, those summers, he used to go out to dinner by himself. He had always been fond of seafood. His favor- i te place was the rest- aurant of Rose Clauson on the main street of the settlement, and the ' waitresses who used to work there remember " that he always jollied them along, telling anecdotes about him- self and his school- room, or lecturing to them on timely topics. They remember, too, that he never left a tip. He had always been a thrifty man. He had known the Bronx as few other men did, and he had invested his sav- ings shrewdly in real estate whose potential value he recognIzed. By the time he was ready to retire from THE NEW YORKER :=::;'. :';/::;0:' . ': ;' ;. ,. ::::,', '. .'.,)( .y.' ;[ ,If'" ,, :'/J d/;:;:' :) (,;'::: i:f}:- .' t\ r (}:.;- :::::;:i i- ":'. i...,: '$........ i:,: --". '::: -::-.::' ,,"":' ..-::::. -:;....: 'f\f:-- ',;' \{;,:'.:' ."*:':. teaching, in 1930, he possessed a mod- est fortune. That winter of 1932, Dr. Condon seemed to be contented and happier than most men. He certainly was in- ordinately sure of himself. He had the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Pedagogy, and he sometimes gave lectures at Fordham and at the College of New Rochelle. He had reached the pinnacle of his ca- reer and had been appropriately crown- ed. At a public meeting late in Febru- ary, attended by more than two hun- dred of his fellow-citi7ens, the toast- master had referred to him as "one of 21 the most distinguished educators of the Bronx." I N many respects the immediate ef- fect of the Lindbergh kidnapping on March 1st, 1932, was that of a na- tional crisis. It produced in the public mind something more than anxiety for the safety of the child and indignation toward the perpetrators of the outrage. The shock had come in the middle of a period of grave uncertainty and fear. Many people had the uncomfortable feeling that the crime was in reality a gesture of defiance on the part of the criminal element, and that if the child " :;, ( ' l ':, ::r;:,' ::c" \ , :i , ; . r . :::':'[ :, : " :, ,, : , ,: , . , :, , ;: , J: , :' '; :( ':"' W:::' i':"\mi:)J::> ,t i;, ':. .. ""':ft ^ ' ' "" "" " " " " ' ^': ' /' . "' ^ .i' ' . ij ' , :':f , ; , ,:,', , , ' ,:" , ,; , , , , , :: , : ,, , < : : ' !<':' ,: ' ., .. .. ' ::; ;/<:;' ' ..,:,., )' ;>.:,' :," ,<;:L :.r ff ^. ",n. .... ... .. '-.:,1:' f "1"cW: i,,' "" ' .. ,,_}J=<< "> ',- ' , ;. . >" t f..">-#. . -: >;x ]h::;' . << '.. "$' . ,110,. ,* ,..,(Ø .." .. 'I: ";;., :: ' ",;: :;,W<, '>>.{';' ,:,.. " '"'.'. ;':, :) ("" L' . '., s'" Ii' :;::::. .........-....... ..... (7, :./: , :, ;, '4é. :":". , ,'j},' ",/::;::::\ " í :<; ::.::.:.:..:.:.:.: i i. : ;: -:t ,; ..:. :-::. '';. :.;:.:.;_:.: ;::: . . . ...... =.; h r\;,., , <;;?;:);;i;:;:f'*?, ':.: ''', ., Ít4{ ;::àr? . . -- { :; /,>1Jit:i: '" <.:. ::::::-" " ä ''':fjij% :, {i; lb; , , ",' :,;: : ":) ':'>;,::,:4 4-:' ". i\<':.:\.: {.i :;'A '..:.' -....' I "..,:, t:: jo ..' ",";: ,,3i : . '. ,; .'. ....:.: ': (:i;::,,"'::, ß.{;'! ::':., .,: . rtt , f . , ' ":::; , ..' ,: :;::::::" < .' ::::- .. i: :. +.Æf %"t i ,À, :i : .* r: <'HJ .(','...::$ ..: : ,: ., ;;;: . :':, ,iii:',:: l;;;i*!' .,.. , .::::- %Ì-i, <f/ '. ,:;i',:: " ,'::', ,", : } ft::", :'. '. .:',.. ,,:,,: ;,;::}, " '.. ' Ä fQJi\ljf/ l;}t 1tØ )<' , ..:.' :: :: ::::::" ':'.:;::: H'm , ;,';;;;:1= j:;;) '.' ' :.;:?t:.;.:.: ..'./. ';:;';.: u ft i '-j " , 1 :: ',&t ,:i::: 1 t.ì ....:; .: :':i'.i-:' ':1 :,' ,/r, "":,, j:; 1/) ((] s it anything like parcheesi?"